Wolcott Throws Complete Game In Duke?s 6-4 Win Over No. 7 Georgia Tech

Friday, May 15

Durham, N.C.

2:00 PM

Duke University

Georgia Tech

Wolcott Throws Complete Game In Duke?s 6-4 Win Over No. 7 Georgia Tech

5/15/2009 5:15:00 PM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. ? Andrew Wolcott tossed a nine-inning complete game and held No. 7 Georgia Tech to four runs to lead Duke to a 6-4 win Friday afternoon at Jack Coombs Field.

Wolcott (7-3) did not give up a run over his final five innings and improved to 4-0 with a 2.70 ERA against top-25 teams this year. The 6-6, 240 pound right-hander threw a career-high 129 pitches, including 82 strikes, to give Duke its sixth win over a top-25 team this season. With the win, Duke locks up a spot in the eight-team ACC Tournament field and enters Saturday's game against the Yellow Jackets with the series tied at 1-1.

Duke junior right fielder Alex Hassan drove in three runs and was a double short of hitting for the cycle in a 3-for-5 outing that featured his third homer and fourth triple of the year. Hassan also crossed the plate three times to account for five of Duke's six runs. Senior designated hitter Tim Sherlock accounted for the other run with a solo home run in the fifth inning as part of a 3-for-4 outing. Duke catcher Matt Williams also logged a three-hit game to improve his team-leading batting average to .354 for the season.

Duke (33-22, 14-15 ACC) outhit Georgia Tech 12-11 and scored all six runs off of Yellow Jacket starter Brandon Cumpton (3-2). Cumpton struck out just one batter before reliever Andrew Robinson took over and shut out Duke over the final three innings. The Yellow Jackets provided Cumpton with four runs in the first four innings, two of which came on an RBI double by Jason Haniger as part of a three-run fourth inning, but got just one runner past first base over the remainder of the game.

Wolcott benefited from a Duke defense that did not commit an error and turned three double plays. In his ACC-leading 50th start at catcher this season, Williams also caught his ACC-leading 16th runner stealing when he threw out Georgia Tech stolen base leader Jeff Rowland at second base.

Wolcott had no trouble throwing strikes in his first frame, but Georgia Tech made the Duke starter throw 22 pitches to get through the inning. The Yellow Jackets would get two singles off of Wolcott, including an RBI base hit from three-hitter Luke Murton, before he got out of the inning with a self-started double play. With men on first and second and out one, Haniger hit a ground ball back at Wolcott that he gloved and fired to second base where shortstop Jake Lemmerman caught it on the bag and threw it first to complete Duke's 49th turn of the year.

Duke responded with a run in the bottom of the first that was made possible by a leadoff triple from Hassan. Hassan legged out the three-bagger, which he sent to the right-field gap, to set up Williams for an RBI groundout to shortstop. Duke would then get two free passes from Cumpton, who hit first baseman Nate Freiman and walked Lemmerman, but stranded both runners when Cumpton got center fielder Will Piwnica-Worms to ground out hard to third base.

After Wolcott retired the side in order in the top of the second, Duke tagged Cumpton for three runs in the bottom of the second, all of which came on a home run from Hassan. With men on first and second following a leadoff single from Sherlock and a one-out walk taken by third baseman Ryan McCurdy, Hassan mashed a breaking ball over the left-center field wall for his third home run of the season.

Now with a 4-1 lead to protect, Wolcott cruised through the third, but got into a jam and gave up three runs in the fourth that retied the game at 4-4. The Yellow Jackets opened the inning with four straight hits, including a pair of consecutive doubles from Tony Plagman and Jason Haniger and an RBI single from Chase Burnette. Haniger's two-bagger sent in the first two runs just before Burnette tied the game at 4-4 with his ensuing single. Georgia Tech would then get another single from Thomas Nichols and a walk from Rowland that loaded the bases with two outs, but Wolcott got out of the inning on a flyout from shortstop Derek Dietrich.

Duke responded with a two-out rally in the bottom of the fourth inning in which Jeremy Gould sent in the go-ahead run with a bases-loaded infield single to put Duke ahead 5-4. Hassan sparked the rally with a single through the right side for his third hit of the day, which was soon followed with another base hit from Williams. Cumpton then plunked Freiman to load the bases for Gould, who fisted a slow roller to third base that third baseman Matt Skole barehanded, but could not get to first in time for the out. Hassan scored his third run of the game on the play before Cumpton ended the inning with a groundout.

After it took Duke three swings of the bat to score one run in the fourth, Sherlock used just one swing in the bottom of the fifth to put Duke on top 6-4. Sherlock crushed a solo home run over the right field wall for his third long ball of the season and Duke's second of the game.

Wolcott, meanwhile, rebounded nicely from the three-run fourth inning to shut out Georgia Tech in the fifth and sixth. After he had thrown 72 pitches in his first four innings, he used just 21 to get through his next two. Wolcott did issue his first walk in the sixth, but then got two straight outs to negate the free pass and keep Duke ahead 6-4.

Wolcott gave up a leadoff single to Rowland in the top of the seventh for the Yellow Jacket leadoff man's third hit of the ballgame, but worked out of the jam unharmed with some help from his catcher to keep Georgia Tech scoreless for the third straight inning. Rowland took off for second base on Wolcott's first offering to Dietrich, but Williams, who was named a semifinalist for the Johnny Bench Award before Thursday's game, gunned him down at second base for the first out. Wolcott then got Dietrich to pop out to shortstop and struck out Murton looking to end his seventh inning of work.

Robinson, who entered the game in the top of the sixth, also held Duke scoreless in the sixth and seventh to keep the Blue Devil lead at two runs. Duke mounted a two-out rally in the seventh with consecutive singles from Piwnica-worms and Sherlock, but had the rally killed when Robinson struck out his third batter of the inning to strand both Blue Devils. Sherlock's knock was his third of the game and his first three-hit outings since Feb. 23, 2008 when he went 3-for-4 with a double against Iona.

Duke opted to let Wolcott stay on the mound in the top of the eight, which paid off as Wolcott retired three of the four hitters he faced to keep Duke ahead 6-4. Wolcott entered the inning with a pitch count of 104 and used just 12 more pitches to get through the inning. He gave up a two-out double to Burnette, but then induced a flyout to Skole to get out of the inning.

Needing just three outs to lock up the win, Duke sent Wolcott back to the mound in the ninth inning. The duke senior retired all three batters he faced, including Rowland, who entered his final at bat 3-for-3 with a walk. After sitting down the first two hitters he saw, Wolcott got Rowland to hit a fly ball to the gap in left field. The ball was on its way to being a double, but left fielder Joe Pedevillano, who entered the game as a defensive replacement at the start of the inning, took off as soon as Rowland made contact and made the catch on the run to close out the game and lock up the win.

Wolcott's complete game was his second of the season and the first nine-inning start by a Duke pitcher since Tony Bajoczky went nine innings against Maryland on April 21, 2007. The outing put Wolcott's ERA at 2.79, which is currently the seventh-best ERA in a season by a Duke pitcher in the aluminum bat era (since 1974).

With the series now tied at 1-1, Duke will have a chance to win a series against a top-25 opponent for the second time this season. Game three will begin at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 16, at 1 p.m. Georgia Tech will throw left-hander Jed Bradley (2-2, 6.37 ERA), while Duke will counter with left-handed freshman Eric Pfisterer (3-2, 5.71 ERA).

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